VALDOSTA — The Azalea City’s power grid just got smarter.

Georgia Power recently tackled a problem area for electrical power in Valdosta by installing “smart equipment” in the East Park Avenue area.

That section of town had power reliability problems due to weather, trees and wildlife (notably squirrels), said Joe Brownlee, Georgia Power’s external affairs director for Valdosta.

“This line includes a middle school, an elementary school and a hospice” among the line’s 2,500 customers, he said. “It was an underperforming line.”

About a month ago, Georgia Power linemen installed “smart” devices called Viper reclosers to deal with many problems automatically that earlier would have caused outages and called for crews to come out for repairs, Brownlee said.

The recloser can detect problems such as a limb across a line and automatically isolate the affected line portion, rerouting power if necessary to keep the lights on, he said.

It also senses momentary faults that clear themselves; earlier gear would have shut power down at such hiccups, meaning work crews had to come out, Brownlee said.

More than 800 Viper reclosers and similar devices have been installed statewide, he said.

Areas where the equipment has been installed, reliability has improved up to 40%, according to a statement from Georgia Power.

Installing the gear on East Park Avenue took about two days, Brownlee said.

Georgia Power has “significant” plans for similar work in Valdosta but those plans are about two years away, he said.

“This equipment is very expensive,” Brownlee said.